Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Her career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death. Early in her career, she was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance; she became based in the UK after 1938.[1][2][3] Hall entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world's most enduring recording artist, having released material over eight consecutive decades.[4] She performed with major artists such as Art Tatum,[5] Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Cab Calloway, Fela Sowande,[6] Rudy Vallee,[7] and Jools Holland, and recorded as a jazz singer with Duke Ellington (with whom she made her most famous recording, "Creole Love Call" in 1927)[8] and with Fats Waller.[9][10][11][12]
Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Louise Hall
20 October 1901
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
7 November 1993 (aged 92)
London, England
- Singer
- musician
- actress
- dancer
- nightclub chanteuse
1921–1992
- Jazz
- swing
- traditional pop
- spirituals
- musical theatre
- Vocals
- ukulele
- acoustic guitar
Early life and marriage[edit]
Adelaide Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, to Elizabeth and William Hall in 1901. Adelaide and her sister Evelyn attended the Pratt Institute, where William Hall taught piano. Her father died on March 23, 1917.[13] Three years later, Evelyn died of pneumonia on March 25, 1920,[14][15] leaving Adelaide to support herself and her mother.
In 1924, Hall married the British sailor Bertram Errol Hicks, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago. Soon after their marriage he opened a club in Harlem, New York, called "The Big Apple" and became her official business manager.[16]
European career, 1935–1938[edit]
Hall arrived in Paris, France in the fall of 1935[106] and remained living there until 1938. Her husband Bert opened a nightclub for her in Paris, situated at 73 rue Pigalle in Montmartre, called La Grosse Pomme (French for "The Big Apple", the name of his original New York club) where she frequently entertained.[107][108][109] "It (the club) held about two hundred people. I made this dramatic entrance coming down a spiral staircase from the attic. Nobody knew that all the boxes of wine and tinned food were stored up there with me. I came down the stairs in the most gorgeous costumes you'll ever see, floating in feathers and plumes," recalled Hall during an interview.[1]
The Quintette du Hot Club de France were one of the house bands Hall's husband Bert hired at the club.[110] At the beginning of 1936, Hall starred in the Black and White Revue. The show of 50 performers opened in Paris, France and in February the production travelled to Switzerland for a tour. The revue was produced by Ralph Clayton, staged by Arthur Bradley and choreographed by ballet master Albert Gaubier who had danced under the direction of Serge Diaghilev in the Russian company Ballets Russes.[111] The orchestra that travelled with the production was under the direction of Henry Crowder.[112] During the August 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany, Hall appeared at Berlin's Rex Theatre singing jazz.[113] Her performance is notable for her contravening Adolf Hitler's ban on jazz music being played.
In 1937, Hall choreographed her own take on the famous French dance the Can-can; she called it the Canned Apple and would perform it at her Montmartre nightclub La Grosse Pomme.[114] Hall is also credited with introducing the Truckin' dance craze to the Parisians.[115] During her residence in Europe, Hall sang with several orchestras, including those of Willie Lewis[116] and Ray Ventura; in 1937 (while on a trip to Copenhagen), she recorded four songs with Kai Ewans and his Orchestra for the Tono record label.[117] On 13 May 1938, BBC Radio broadcast Over to Paris, an hour-long programme direct from a Paris studio that highlighted a variety of famous Parisian artists of radio, cabaret and the music hall. The show included performances from Hall and Mistinguett, who were accompanied by two orchestras.[118]
Move to London, 1938[edit]
British career, 1938–1993[edit]
After many years performing in the US and Europe, Hall went to the United Kingdom in 1938[119] to take a starring role in a stage-adapted musical version of Edgar Wallace's The Sun Never Sets at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.[120][121] She was so successful and became so popular with British audiences that she stayed and made her home there, becoming one of the most popular singers and entertainers of the time. Hall lived in London from 1938 until her death.
On 28 August 1938, Hall recorded "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "That Old Feeling"[122] at London's Abbey Road Studios, with Fats Waller accompanying her on the organ. The recordings were released on HMV Records. On 10 September 1938, she appeared in Broadcast To America with Waller at London's St George's Hall in a live transatlantic radio broadcast.[10][123]
On 25 February 1939, BBC TV broadcast Harlem in Mayfair from Hall's London nightclub, the Old Florida Club. The cabaret show starred Hall; also on the bill were Esther and Louise, Eddie Lewis, and Fela Sowande with his Negro Choir and Orchestra.[7][124] On 20 May 1939, BBC TV broadcast the cabaret show Dark Sophistication, starring Hall performing at the Old Florida Club.[125] On 26 August 1939, Hall took part in the BBC TV production Kentucky Minstrels, which was transmitted live from the 2500-seat RadiOlympia Theatre in London.[126][127]
On Friday, 1 September 1939, Hall was scheduled to appear at 9:00 pm in a live BBC TV broadcast titled Variety recorded direct from the RadiOlympia Theatre.[128][129] Other performers on the bill included Nosmo King, The Gordon RadiOlympia Girls, Hubert Murray and Mooney, and Bobby Howell and his Band. However, with war looming, the BBC were instructed by the government to shut down broadcasting, and at 12:35 the service went off the air for seven years. It appears that the show Variety never took place at RadiOlympia; The Times newspaper for the following day (2 September) noted in their section 'News in Brief' that "RadiOlympia closed at 12:30 yesterday", presumably another result of the country being placed on a war footing.[130]
Unexpectedly, the show Variety became one of the first British theatrical casualties of World War II and part of the mystery surrounding "what really happened at the BBC on 1 September 1939?" That year, Hall became a featured vocalist with Joe Loss & His Band[131] and from 1939 to 1941, Hall headlined the popular BBC Radio variety show Piccadixie.[132] She also toured the UK extensively during these years, headlining the Piccadixie British Tour, supported by comedian Oliver Wakefield and pianist George Elrick.[133]
During the war, Hall entertained the troops in Europe for the USO (United Service Organizations Inc.)[134] and the British equivalent ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) in which she served as a captain. Her uniform was made by Madam Adele of Grosvenor Street in Mayfair, London.[135]
The First World Radio Broadcast, 17 October 1939.
On 17 October 1939 Adelaide Hall starred in one of the most sensational live radio broadcasts ever attempted by the BBC to hit the airwaves. It took place at the RAF Hendon base in North London, in front of a specially invited audience of RAF personnel, and was the first large-scale variety concert organised by ENSA.[136][137] The whole show was relayed worldwide across the airwaves, the first time a live show had ever been broadcast by the BBC around the globe. On the bill was Hall, her accompanist Fela Sowande, Mantovani and His Orchestra, The Western Brothers, and Harry Roy and his Band.[138]
Hall later recalled in vivid detail the challenges she faced during WWII while entertaining the troops across Europe and in the UK, some of whom were wounded:[139] "Sometimes I had to sing without music, but it was a challenge, and so rewarding to get all the people to sing with me." At one London performance Hall gave at Lewisham Hippodrome theatre during the week of 20 August 1940, the Luftwaffe attacked overhead, dropping bombs and, "even though we could hear bombs exploding outside the theatre, we carried on ... I had sung 54 songs until the all-clear sounded at 3:45 a.m. in the morning!"[140] Hall's 54 encores are believed to be a world record for the amount of encores sung by one artist on stage.[141][142] Hall also claimed to be one of the first entertainers to enter Germany before the war had officially ended. She travelled with the troops as they advanced towards Berlin, dismissing the dangers such bravery entailed.[140]
Hall's career was almost an uninterrupted success. She made more than 70 records for Decca,[143] had her own BBC Radio series, Wrapped in Velvet[144][145] (making her the first black artist to have a long-term contract with the BBC), and appeared on the stage, in films, and in nightclubs (of which she owned her own in New York, London and Paris). In the 1940s, and especially during World War II, she was hugely popular with civilian and Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) audiences[140][146] and became one of Britain's highest paid entertainers. Her London nightclub The Old Florida Club owned by Hall and her husband was destroyed by a landmine during an air raid in 1939. Her husband Bert was in the club's cellar when the landmine exploded but he survived the attack. Hall has a cameo appearance as a singer in the 1940 Oscar-winning movie The Thief of Bagdad (directed by Michael Powell (and others) and produced by Alexander Korda) in which she sings Lullaby of the Princess, written by Miklós Rózsa.[121][147][148][149] In 1943, Hall featured in an ENSA radio show broadcast by the BBC entitled Spotlight on the Stars during which she was accompanied by the BBC Variety Orchestra. During the show she mentions how she had just returned home from a tour.[150] On 20 May 1940, Hall's recording of 'Careless' debuted in the British charts at number 30, where it remained for two consecutive weeks.[151] In the August 1940 issue of British Vogue magazine, a photograph of Hall appears on the 'Spotlight' page compiled by the features editor Lesley Blanch under the caption: "Adelaide Hall and her husband run the Florida. His show, her songs, our fun."[152] On 6 June 1945, Hall's recording of "There Goes That Song Again" entered the BBC British charts at number 15.[153]
Hall appears in the earliest post-war BBC telerecording: a live recording of her performance at RadiOlympia Theatre on 7 October 1947. The footage was filmed on the "Cafe Continental" stage set at the theatre for a BBC TV show titled Variety in Sepia.[154][155] Hall sings "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep)" and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and accompanies herself on ukulele and dancing. When the show was broadcast on BBC TV it was 60 minutes in length and included performances from Winifred Atwell, Evelyn Dove, Cyril Blake and his Calypso Band, Edric Connor and Mable Lee and was produced by Eric Fawcett. The six-minute footage of Hall is all that survives of the show.[156] In 1948, Hall appeared in a British movie called A World is Turning. The movie was intended to highlight the contribution of black men and women to British society at a time when they were struggling for visibility on the screens. Filming appears to have been halted due to the director's illness and only six reels of rushes remain, including scenes of Hall rehearsing songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"[157] and "The Gospel Train"[158] (a traditional African-American spiritual first published in 1872 as one of the songs of the Fisk Jubilee Singers). In 1949, Hall appeared on the BBC TV shows Rooftop Rendezvous and Caribbean Carnival. That year, Hall recorded five spirituals accompanied by the pianist Kenneth Cantril.[159] The five songs chosen and released by London Records (the US outlet for British Decca) were "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", "Bye and Bye", "Nobody Know De Trouble I've Seen", "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", and "Deep River".
In 1951, Hall appeared as a guest in the music spot on the first ever British comedy series How Do You View, starring Terry-Thomas and written by Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell.[160] On 29 October 1951, Hall appeared on the bill of the Royal Variety Performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the presence of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.[161] Alongside Trinidad-born US dancer Pearl Primus and the female members of her company, who also performed that year, Hall was the first black female artiste to ever take part in the Royal Variety Performance.[162][163] Hall also entertained at private parties for the Duchess of Kent, the Churchills, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. She was one of the many performers at an all-star midnight Anglo-American gala at the London Coliseum on the night of Monday, 11 December 1951, before the then Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.[164] Also on the bill was Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, and Noël Coward.[165]
In the early 1950s, Hall and her husband Bert opened the Calypso Club in Regent Street, London, and Royalty flocked there.[166] It was reported in the press that Princess Elizabeth was a frequent visitor and that Hall had taught the princess the Charleston.[167]
Hall appeared in the 1951 London run of Kiss Me, Kate playing the role of Hattie, singing Cole Porter's "Another Op'nin', Another Show", and in the 1952 London musical Love From Judy[168] at the Saville Theatre playing the role of Butterfly, singing "A Touch of Voodoo", "Kind to Animals" and "Ain't Gonna Marry".[169] The entire production of Love From Judy was filmed with the original cast and aired on BBC on 16 March 1953.[170] In 1956, she returned to London's West End in the play Someone to Talk To.[171] In 1957, at the request of Lena Horne, Hall returned to America to appear with Horne in the musical Jamaica. The world premiere of Jamaica took place in Philadelphia in September 1957[172] and transferred to Broadway on 31 October. In 1958, Hall was cast as one of the lead characters in Rodgers and Hammerstein's new musical Flower Drum Song.[173]
On 1 April 1960, Hall appeared on the BBC TV music show The Music Goes Round hosted by John Watt. The show was an NBA TV version of the radio show Songs from the Shows.[174] On 3 March 1965, Hall appeared on BBC2 television in Muses with Milligan with Spike Milligan and John Betjeman in a show devoted to poetry and jazz.[175] In 1968, Hall appeared in Janie Jones, a new American play written by Robert P. Hillier and directed by Peter Cotes. The cast included American actress Marlene Warfield. The play had its world premiere on 8 July at the Manchester Opera House, where it ran for one week prior to its London West End opening on 15 July at the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre).[171]
Between 1969 and 1970, Hall made two jazz recordings with Humphrey Lyttelton. This was followed by theatre tours and concert appearances; she sang at Duke Ellington's memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 1974.[176] On 4 January 1974, she appeared on the British TV shows Looks Familiar (as a panelist)[177] and on What Is Jazz, with Humphrey Lyttelton.[178] On 15 June 1976, she appeared on British TV in It Don't Mean a Thing.[179] and in 1981 appeared on the Michael Parkinson BBC TV show Parkinson as a guest.[180] In July 1982, Hall appeared at a Gala concert held at St Paul's Cathedral in London to celebrate the sacred music of Duke Ellington. A live recording of the concert titled The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington was filmed for a Channel 4 TV documentary. Artists also taking part included Tony Bennett, Phyllis Hyman, Jacques Loussier, Alan Downey, Wayne Sleep, Ronnie Scott, Stan Tracey and the New Swingle Singers.[181] The concert was hosted by Rod Steiger and narrated by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.[182]
In April 1980, Hall returned to the U.S. and from 1 to 24 May, she appeared in the cast of Black Broadway (a retrospective musical revue) at the Town Hall in New York. Among other artists appearing in the show were Elisabeth Welch, Gregory Hines, Bobby Short, Honi Coles, Edith Wilson, Nell Carter and John W. Bubbles of Buck and Bubbles fame. The show originally was staged at the Newport Jazz Festival on 24 June 1979, before it was re-assembled in 1980 and staged at the Town Hall.[183] Following Black Broadway, in June 1980, Hall took up temporary residence at Michael's Pub in New York and commenced a three-week engagement, performing three shows a night.[184] In June 1980, she performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Other artists on the bill included Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Stéphane Grappelli, Mel Tormé, Zoot Sims, Carmen McRae and Chick Corea.[185] On 2 July 1980, writer Rosetta Reitz organised a tribute to the Women of Jazz at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Newport Jazz Festival. Called The Blues is a Woman, the program, narrated by Carmen McRae, featured music by Hall, Big Mama Thornton, Nell Carter and Koko Taylor.[186][187] Hall appeared at the Duke Ellington Tribute Concert at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, in 1982, where she sang Ellington's 'Come Sunday'.[188] Back in the States, in February 1983, Hall appeared on the bill of the 100th birthday celebration for composer Eubie Blake held at the Shubert Theater, New York. Unfortunately, Blake was recovering from pneumonia at the time so could not attend the event but with the aid of a special telephone hook-up to his home in Brooklyn he was able to listen to the entire two-hour show.[189] On 5 April 1983, Hall commenced a month-long engagement at The Cookery in New York.[190] Her accompanists were Ronnie Whyte and Frank Tate.[191]
In 1985, Hall appeared on British TV in the cast of Omnibus: The Cotton Club comes to the Ritz, a 60-minute BBC documentary in which some of the performers from Harlem's Cotton Club were filmed performing at the Ritz Hotel in London, along with contemporary musicians. Also on the bill were Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, Doc Cheatham, Max Roach and the Nicholas Brothers.[192][193] In 1985, Hall appeared on British TV on The South Bank Show in a documentary entitled The Real Cotton Club.[194] In July 1986, Hall performed in concert at the Barbican Centre, London.[195]
In October 1988, Hall presented a one-woman show at Carnegie Hall in New York.[196] She presented the same show in London at the King's Head Theatre (Islington) during December 1988.[197] She is one of the very few performers to have made two guest appearances (2 December 1972[198] and 13 January 1991)[199] on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. In 1989, she appeared at London's Royal Festival Hall at the Royal Ellington Tribute Concert that included the world premiere of Ellington's Queen's Suite, which was written for Queen Elizabeth II. Other artists appearing included the Bob Wilber Band, Tony Coe and Alan Cohen. The concert was filmed by Independent Film Production Associates.[200] 1989 also saw Hall appear in concert at the Studio Theatre, Haymarket in Leicester. The concert was organised by composer/musician Gavin Bryars and sold out almost as soon as it was announced.[201]
In 1990, Hall starred in Sophisticated Lady, a Channel 4 television documentary about her life broadcast on 24 July, which included a performance of her in concert recorded live at the Riverside Studios in London.[202] Her final US concert appearances took place in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, in the Cabaret Comes to Carnegie series. The same year, she was presented with a Gold Badge Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.[203] After attending the award ceremony she said: "I was so proud to be acknowledged. They said, 'You look like a Queen. You don't look more than fifty or sixty. You look so well.' I wore a sequin suit – different colours – it glittered. I must have been the oldest one there! I ate everything that came along."
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